RELA image, role can be improved like other security agencies - Hamzah

KUALA LUMPUR: Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the image of the People's Volunteer Corps (RELA) could be raised like that of other security agencies.

He said training in addition to knowledge of the law would be provided to RELA members in an effort to elevate the role of the department.

"I, as minister, want to raise the image of RELA and not to just take care of traffic control and crowd control at weddings but to also protect the security of the country... I have brought up this matter at the Cabinet meeting and it has been agreed that RELA members should be placed at the country's borders.

"When cooperating with the General Operations Force (GOF), we have found RELA personnel displaying a good spirit of cooperation, Currently, we have 1,000 RELA members stationed at the borders and we have provided them with training."

Hamzah said this in his speech at the presentation of letters of appointment as Rela area liaison leaders (KPRK) and platoon leaders (KPR) to 113 volunteers at the Ministry of Home Affairs Complex auditorium in Jalan Duta, here.

Also present were the Home Ministry's secretary-general (sec-gen) Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz and deputy sec-gen (Security) Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman, as well as RELA director-general Datuk Yahya Sulaiman and Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Azmi Abu Kassim.

Meanwhile, Yahya said that currently, there were 150,000 registered RELA members with more than 45,000 of them involved in permanent assignments throughout the country.

-- BERNAMA